Three things are important in a gun fight.
1st - Being able to hit what you are aiming at.
2nd - Penetration. You have to hit a vital organ or a large artery or a major nerve center.
3rd - Size of the hole.

Since we can't carry a carbine for self defense I will assume that you are thinking Home Defense.
Get a shot gun. Best home defense weapon made for normal folks.
If you must have a 45 for home defense I would hope that the carbine is a back up to a hand gun... loaded with good name brand hollow points. Sort of like the PDX1's.
In the carbine I would consider FMJ rounds to make sure you have a lot of penetration since the hand gun was not enough.
A 45 hole is sufficient already and the FMJ will give you the penetration.
The rest would be up to you to hit the bad guy.